"Joker? Wasn't his goal perfectly clear?"
Batman shook his head. "What he wants is only what he thinks he wants. He deceived himself in the course of endlessly pursuing it."
"You're making this a little hard for me to understand," Schiller said. "Isn't what he thinks he wants simply what he wants?"
"Do you like apples?"
"To be honest, not much."
Batman seemed not to have expected such a blunt answer, but he continued, "Thinking you like apples and truly liking apples are not the same. Before you've tasted one, you may sincerely believe you like them. Does that mean you really do?"
"Joker is the same way. Before he truly makes me break down, he sincerely believes that making me break down is his reason for living. But it isn't."
"How do you know it isn't?"
Batman gave him another slightly strange look, then said, "Shouldn't a psychologist consider it unhealthy for someone to live entirely for another person?"
"I'm not a psychologist."
Batman wore an expression of understanding, and only then did Schiller realize Batman had tricked him into revealing something again!
How had the conversation gotten here in the first place?
Fortunately, Batman did not stop there. He continued, "Darkseid wanting to conquer the universe seems evil because we stand on the side being conquered. Our instinct for survival compels us to resist. But for a being in his position to have such an ambition is perfectly normal—healthy, even."
Schiller opened his mouth. He felt Batman actually had a point, but wasn't he being a little too understanding?
"What I mean is, conflicts of interest are perfectly normal. Greed wants to make money, and I want to save people. If the two cannot coexist, then we are bound to become enemies."
"But Joker and I have no